"Edmund Zagorski, executed in the electric chair at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, Tennessee on November 1, 2018
was the most recent execution by electrocution. Zagorski chose electrocution over lethal injection because he stated that it was the "lesser of two evils."
(Wikipedia)

The secret executions in Europe's 'last dictatorship'- with pictures- 15 May 2018
"When the guards come, these inmates never know if it is for the last time. On death row in Belarus, the only country in Europe that still uses the death penalty, they are never told when they will be executed. And when it happens, it is all kept as a state secret."
(BBC)

Which countries executed the most people last year? - 12 April 2018
"Global executions saw a small drop last year, but large numbers of those given the death penalty were convicted for non-violent crimes, according to a new report by Amnesty International."
(telegraph.co.uk)

Texas executes inmate convicted of fatally stabbing a prison guard - 13 October 2017
"A Texas inmate convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1999 was executed by lethal injection Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court denied last-minute appeals from his lawyers.
Robert Pruett had been in prison since he was a teenager, after being convicted as an accomplice to a murder committed by his father."
(washingtonpost.com)

Amnesty International: Syria Killed Thousands in Hangings- Text + Audio - 7 February 2017
"A new report by the rights group Amnesty International says the Syrian government killed as many as 13,000 people by hanging them in a military prison. They say this happened between 2011 and 2015, and, Amnesty says they have no reason to believe the killing has ended."
(learningenglish.voanews.com)

Texas Carries Out Nation’s First Execution of 2017- 12 January 2017
"Texas carried out the nation’s first execution of 2017 on Wednesday night, putting to death Christopher Wilkins, who was convicted of killing two men who tricked him into paying $20 for a piece of gravel that he thought was crack cocaine."
(nytimes.com)

US church attacker sentenced to death - 10 January 2017
"A white supremacist has been sentenced to death for the racially motivated killings of nine black people at a South Carolina church.
Dylann Roof was convicted last month of 33 federal charges, including hate crimes, after opening fire on a Bible study group in 2015."
(BBC)

Executions on the Rise in Some Nations- Text + Audio - 15 December 2016
"More people were executed for crimes in 2015 than any year since 1990. Amnesty International reported the numbers.
The rights group said 89 percent of the executions took place in just three nations -- Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia."
(learningenglish.voanews.com)

Executions Are Down, but Debate over Death Sentence Continues- Text + Audio - 12 December 2016
"Fewer people are being executed or sentenced to death in the United States. But public debate about the death sentence continues.
While support for it is down, three states voted last month to permit executions for certain murders. Some bring strong emotions into the death penalty debate."
(learningenglish.voanews.com)

Saudi Arabia executes one of its princes over shooting murder - 19 October 2016
"Rare case involving a member of royal family sees Prince Turki bin Saud al-Kabir put to death in Riyadh over fatal gunfight at desert camp in 2014...
Kabir was the 134th local person or foreigner put to death in 2016, according to an AFP tally of ministry statements...
Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword...
Saudi Arabia has a strict Islamic legal code under which murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death.
Amnesty International says the kingdom carried out at least 158 death sentences in 2015, making it the third most prolific executioner after Iran and Pakistan. Amnesty’s figures do not include secretive China."
(theguardian.com)

Californians to Vote on Ending Death Penalty- Text + Audio + Video - 18 September 2016
"Californians will vote on two measures to decide whether to end the death penalty, or reform the legal process leading up to it.
Proposition 62 would abolish the death penalty. Proposition 66 would try to speed up executions by reforming parts of the appeals process.
Voting takes place November 8."
(learningenglish.voanews.com)

The Longer View: Capital punishment - with videos
"Fifty years ago capital punishment was brought to an end in the UK but the death sentence remains a contentious issue across the globe.
According to Amnesty International, 22 countries continue to carry out executions across the world, as of 2014."(BBC)

Untested drugs, secret sources: the controversy over executions rages on- 1 October 2015
"Oklahoma stayed the execution of Richard Glossip on Wednesday over questions about its drug protocol, the same day Virginia postponed Alfredo Prieto’s death to decide if the drugs were ‘recklessly’ obtained – and the issue is not a new one." See RELATED CONTENT (theguardian.com)

Texas executes plane hangar killer Lester Bower- 4 June 2015
"Texas has executed a 67-year-old man who was convicted of killing four men in 1983 after the US Supreme Court denied him a final appeal.
Lester Bower Jr is the oldest man executed in Texas since the state resumed its use of capital punishment in 1982."(BBC)

Nebraska abolishes death penalty after veto-override - 28 May 2015
"Nebraska joins 18 other states and the federal district of Washington, DC, in banning capital punishment,
and is the first traditionally conservative state in four decades to do so...North Dakota, another traditionally conservative state, abolished the death penalty in 1973.
The most recent state to eliminate the death penalty is Maryland, which ended capital punishment in 2013." (BBC)

In US, Support for Death Penalty Is Strong- 16 December 2014- Text + Audio
"Public opinion surveys show 60 percent of Americans want judges and juries to be able to sentence criminals to death.
But the same studies show that many Americans have concerns about the justice system and the way executions are carried out." (learningenglish.voanews.com)

Ray Jasper, Ex-Rapper Who Killed Studio Owner, Executed In Texas - 19 March 2014
"A former San Antonio rap musician has been executed for a knife attack and robbery that left a recording studio owner dead. Ray Jasper was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital...
Jasper's execution was the third in Texas this year." (huffingtonpost.com)

Texas executes female murderer Suzanne Basso - 6 February 2014
"A woman convicted of murder in Texas has been put to death, only the 14th time a female has been executed in the US in nearly four decades.
Suzanne Basso, 59, was pronounced dead from lethal injection...
She was found guilty of the 1998 torture and killing of a mentally impaired man she had promised to marry." (BBC)

Texas executes 500th person since resuming death penalty - 27 June 2013
"Kimberly McCarthy, 52, who was convicted of killing her neighbour in 1997, was given a lethal injection on Wednesday evening.
McCarthy was also the first woman executed in the US for nearly three years.
Texas is one of 32 states to still have the death penalty, but it carries out the most executions."(BBC)

Rapist and murderer executed by injection in Oklahoma - 25 June 2013
"TULSA, Oklahoma (AP) — A man convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend's mother in 2001 was put to death on Tuesday,
despite a recommendation by Oklahoma's pardon and parole board to commute his death sentence after he apologized...
Last week, the state executed James Lewis DeRosa, 36, for his part in the brutal killings of a LeFlore County ranch couple in 2000." (usatoday.com)

Texas executes Yokamon Hearn with pentobarbitol- 19 July 2012
"The US state of Texas has executed its first death row inmate with a single lethal injection of the sedative pentobarbital.
Yokamon Hearn, 33, was convicted for the carjacking and murder of a Dallas stockbroker in 1998.
Hearn is the sixth inmate to be killed this year in Texas, but the first after the state stopped using a cocktail of three lethal drugs for executions..."(BBC)

Troy Davis is executed in Georgia for shooting policeman - 22 September 2011 - lethal injection
"Death row inmate Troy Davis has been executed in the US state of Georgia for the fatal shooting of policeman Mark MacPhail in 1989.
Davis' death was delayed for hours while the US Supreme Court considered an 11th-hour appeal for clemency.
The 42-year-old's case was heavily disputed after most of the witnesses recanted or changed their testimony...
No gun was found and no DNA evidence conclusively linked Davis to the murder...
Meanwhile in the US state of Texas another death row inmate, Lawrence Russell Brewer, was executed on Wednesday evening - in a very different case..."
+ a video
(BBC)

Amnesty International: Global death penalty trend falls
"Although 23 countries carried out executions in 2010, four more than in 2009, the number of people executed dropped from at least 714 to at least 527, the rights group said.
But that figure does not include China, whose executions are thought to be more than all other countries put together."(BBC)

Illinois abolishes the death penalty
"Illinois has become the 16th US state to abolish the death penalty, after the governor signed a bill making permanent a 10-year-old moratorium on executions."(BBC)

Amnesty urges China to disclose execution figures
"In its annual report on the use of the death penalty, Amnesty said some 714 people were known to have been executed in 18 countries in 2009.
But the group said the true global figure could be much higher, as thousands of executions were thought to have been carried out in China alone." See WORLD EXECUTIONS 2009 : in China, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, US...(BBC)

Sniper executed with lethal precision - Greenville Correctional Center, Virginia
"The condemned man is injected first with thiopental sodium, which induces a state of unconsciousness.
The second chemical, pancuronium bromide, stops the breathing.
And the third - potassium chloride - stops the heart...
Punctually, at 2100 (0200 GMT), he was led into what is called the "death chamber".
Six state witnesses and three representatives of the media were in an adjacent room watching the execution.
Relatives of the victims were in another room, this one darkened, "to protect their privacy."...
"He was strapped to the gurney, first by his legs, then his arms and chest...
For three weeks (in 2002), Muhammad spread fear and terror around the DC area, targeting random residents with his then teenage accomplice...
The two had even adapted their car, cutting a hole in its bodywork to fit their rifle."
Read the sniper's profile.(BBC)

DEATH
PENALTY- WHEN LIFE GENERATES DEATH (LEGALLY) - INDEX- History of death penalty
- Death penalty today in the world
- Death tools
- Stuff about death penalty
- International laws about death penalty
- Polls and debate about death penalty (tell us your opinion!)
- Thanks and greetings (library.thinkquest.org)

Death
penalty costs Maryland. more than life term
"The death penalty has cost Maryland taxpayers at least $186 million
more in prosecuting and defending capital murder cases over two decades
than would have been spent without the threat of execution, according to
a study to be released today.(06/03/2008)(deathpenaltyinfo.org)

US
to decide on lethal injection
"The US Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on whether to ban
lethal injections - the means of execution in most states."(BBC)

New
Jersey set to scrap death penalty (Thu Dec 6, 2007)"New Jersey is preparing to scrap the death penalty next
week, becoming the first U.S. state to legislatively abolish capital
punishment since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976."(reuters.com)

Causing
Death - (library.thinkquest)"Does any society have the right to take the life of one of
its citizens?
In many countries around the world, capital punishment is legal and
practiced. In others it is considered barbaric and wrong..."

Executions and Death Row Inmates by State - by ethnicity,
gender, and juvenile
("Click on Death Row or Executions. You can choose Total, different
ethnicities, different genders, or juvenile to compare.")
(deathpenaltyinfo.msu.edu)